The 

fundamental theorem of algebra also known as d'Alembert's theorem[1] or the d'Alembert-Gauss

theorem[2] states that every non-constant single-variable polynomial with complex coefficients has at least
one complex root. This includes polynomials with real coefficients, since every real number is a complex
number with its imaginary part equal to zero.
Equivalently (by definition), the theorem states that the field of complex numbers is algebraically closed.
The theorem is also stated as follows: every non-zero, single-variable, degree n polynomial with complex
coefficients has, counted with multiplicity, exactly n complex roots. The equivalence of the two statements
can be proven through the use of successive polynomial division.
Despite its name, there is no purely algebraic proof of the theorem, since any proof must use some form
of the analytic completeness of the real numbers, which is not an algebraic concept.[3] Additionally, it is not
fundamental for modern algebra; its name was given at a time when algebra was synonymous with theory
of equations.
Peter Roth, in his book Arithmetica Philosophica (published in 1608, at Nürnberg, by Johann
Lantzenberger),[4] wrote that a polynomial equation of degree n (with real
coefficients) may have n solutions. Albert Girard, in his book L'invention nouvelle en l'Algèbre (published
in 1629), asserted that a polynomial equation of degree n has n solutions, but he did not state that they
had to be real numbers. Furthermore, he added that his assertion holds "unless the equation is
incomplete", by which he meant that no coefficient is equal to 0. However, when he explains in detail what
he means, it is clear that he actually believes that his assertion is always true; for instance, he shows that
the equation  although incomplete, has four solutions (counting multiplicities): 1 (twice),  and 
As will be mentioned again below, it follows from the fundamental theorem of algebra that every non-
constant polynomial with real coefficients can be written as a product of polynomials with real coefficients
whose degrees are either 1 or 2. However, in 1702 Leibniz erroneously said that no polynomial of the
type x4 + a4 (with a real and distinct from 0) can be written in such a way. Later, Nikolaus Bernoulli made
the same assertion concerning the polynomial x4 − 4x3 + 2x2 + 4x + 4, but he got a letter from Euler in
1742[5] in which it was shown that this polynomial is equal to
with  pointed out thatA first attempt at proving the theorem was made by d'Alembert in 1746, but his proof
was incomplete. Among other problems, it assumed implicitly a theorem (now known as Puiseux's
theorem), which would not be proved until more than a century later and using the fundamental theorem
of algebra. Other attempts were made by Euler (1749), de Foncenex (1759), Lagrange (1772),
and Laplace (1795). These last four attempts assumed implicitly Girard's assertion; to be more precise,
the existence of solutions was assumed and all that remained to be proved was that their form
was a + bi for some real numbers a and b. In modern terms, Euler, de Foncenex, Lagrange, and Laplace
were assuming the existence of a splitting field of the polynomial p(z).
At the end of the 18th century, two new proofs were published which did not assume the existence of
roots, but neither of which was complete. One of them, due to James Wood and mainly algebraic, was
published in 1798 and it was totally ignored. Wood's proof had an algebraic gap.[6] The other one was
published by Gauss in 1799 and it was mainly geometric, but it had a topological gap, only filled
by Alexander Ostrowski in 1920, as discussed in Smale (1981).[7]
The first rigorous proof was published by Argand, an amateur mathematician, in 1806 (and revisited in
1813);[8] it was also here that, for the first time, the fundamental theorem of algebra was stated for
polynomials with complex coefficients, rather than just real coefficients. Gauss produced two other proofs
in 1816 and another incomplete version of his original proof in 1849.
The first textbook containing a proof of the theorem was Cauchy's Cours d'analyse de l'École Royale
Polytechnique (1821). It contained Argand's proof, although Argand is not credited for it.
None of the proofs mentioned so far is constructive. It was Weierstrass who raised for the first time, in the
middle of the 19th century, the problem of finding a constructive proof of the fundamental theorem of
algebra. He presented his solution, which amounts in modern terms to a combination of the Durand–
Kerner method with the homotopy continuation principle, in 1891. Another proof of this kind was obtained
by Hellmuth Kneser in 1940 and simplified by his son Martin Kneser in 1981.
Without using countable choice, it is not possible to constructively prove the fundamental theorem of
algebra for complex numbers based on the Dedekind real numbers (which are not constructively
equivalent to the Cauchy real numbers without countable choice).[9]